The data on the number of students enrolled in various classes in the new academic year in government and aided schools in Ernakulam has not come out yet, despite the authorities carrying out a headcount on the sixth working day after reopening.
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A senior official of the General Education department in the district said that there is a stringent directive from the head office not to release the details at the district level. The sixth-day headcount gives a picture on the number of students in Classes 1 to 10, besides showing the updated count of teachers in educational institutions. “The details for the new academic year have been submitted before the Director of Public Education. We cannot give the district-wise data as the Statewide figures would be released from the head office,” the official added. The headcount was taken on June 8.
The headcount provided a picture on whether there has been an increase or decline in the number of students joining the public education system. The data on the number of teachers showed whether there is an excess or fall in the student-teacher ratio in each school.
Interestingly, the district authorities had released the sixth-day headcount data in the previous academic year. It had revealed that about 7,800 students from unaided schools had joined public schools amidst the pandemic situation. The financial crisis induced by the pandemic was cited as a key reason for the migration as many parents had either lost their jobs or faced salary cuts in view of the crisis.
The data on the children of migrant workers, who joined various classes as part of the district administration’s ‘Roshni’ project, has also not been released in the new academic year. Repeated enquiries evoked a response from the coordinators of the programme that the figures have been submitted before the Deputy Director of Education, Ernakulam. “We cannot give the data following directions from the office,” they said.